


For Richer or Poorer

by SegaBarrett



Category: S.W.A.T. (TV 2017)
Genre: M/M, Undercover as Married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25521433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SegaBarrett/pseuds/SegaBarrett
Summary: A new case requires Luca and Street to take on a different approach.
Relationships: Dominique Luca/Jim Street, Jim Street/Molly Hicks (mentioned)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 56
Collections: Just Married Exchange 2020





	For Richer or Poorer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dirty_diana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dirty_diana/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I do not own SWAT and make no money from this.

Jim Street had stepped into the shower about ten minutes ago, and he was already regretting it. 

“Hey, Luca!” he called through the shower curtain, grumbling before he called the name again and then abandoned the spray of lukewarm water for a step on to the fluffy bath rug that had appeared at some point. Might have been a gift from Alonso, but he wouldn’t count out Tan, especially under the influence of his recent trips to Bath and Body Works that they had been teasing him about recently. The man smelled nicer than any person who ran around all day should smell.

Luca was found, to Street’s annoyance, in the living room on the couch with his arms and legs akimbo, with the TV on and turned to a news broadcast.

“What’s going on? Also, you didn’t hear me. The hot water heater turned off again.”

“Yeah, they’re supposed to send a guy out tomorrow,” Luca replied matter-of-factly. “Are you seeing this right now?”

He jerked his finger in the direction of the TV, as Street narrowed his eyes.

“What am I looking at exactly?”

“This pompous asshole up here. I can’t believe this guy. The Deputy Mayor’s just the gift that keeps on giving.”

Street blinked.

“You’re usually not that harsh on everyone, Luca,” he told him. “What’s got you so riled up, anyway?”

“He’s trying to start some new community program, but his name’s all over it and he hasn’t said yet what it’s actually supposed to do. Some kind of ‘initiative to strengthen family’. What does that even mean? It’s just a bunch of words in a sentence with no definable meaning…” A moment later, the Deputy Mayor vanished off the screen into a flood of black. “Hey, I was watching that.”

“You were yelling at it. We should get in to work already.”

“I haven’t even eaten breakfast yet,” Luca argued. 

“You own a food truck,” Street pointed out, “You’ve got options.”

***

Luca was nibbling on the edge of a pupusa while Street was wrestling with an elote loco when Alonso walked in with an annoyed look on her face.

“Have you seen this new nonsense?” she asked. “We’ve already gotten all of these calls about it. I don’t know what we’re expected to do about bad public policy decisions by the city council.”

“Is this the new thing the Deputy Mayor’s trying? The ‘Together We Two’ program?” Hondo cut in, stepping into the room. “You’re getting sauce everywhere, Street.”

“Together, We Two? What the hell is that even supposed to mean?” Street asked. “Who comes up with these political slogans, anyway? Wasn’t the old mayor running under something like ‘You Can Connect with Success’? It sounded like those little blocks, you know, the ones that fit together so you can learn about the ones and the tens place…”

“It’s some kind of initiative to convince people to get married,” Alonso replied, “Apparently you get something if you get married.”

“Other than married?” Luca quipped, scooping up some salsa.

“Hah, hah,” Alonso replied. “Considering I’m not exactly invited given my current relationship, I’m mainly watching with popcorn.”

Commander Hicks walked into the room.

“I’m glad you’ve all heard about this, because I’m going to need some undercover work done.”

“Undercover?” Alonso inquired. “Like what exactly?”

“I have sources that think this new program is actually a way of laundering government money by giving it to married couples on paper, but actually funneling it into,” Hicks looked at his notepad, “an illegal gambling operation… in reality. So we are going to need a couple to go in and actually apply for this grant.”

“Well,” Hondo said, “Nichelle is out of town doing some work for the Center, but once she gets back, I’m sure she could…”

“I appreciate the enthusiasm, and hopefully Nichelle… also does. But both of your faces have been on the news a lot lately. We may need two people with a… lower profile, and perhaps a less… expected? Marriage. Hey, I’m trying to get better about these things.”

“That’s good,” Luca said, pumping his fist.

Street dropped a piece of tomato on his foot and craned down to push it off. 

When he came up, he asked, “Why is everybody looking at me?”

***

“Well, it does make a lot of sense,” Hondo was saying as Street blinked, looking back and forth between Luca and the Commander as if someone was going to tell him that he was on Candid Camera if only he waited long enough. “You two live together. It’s an easy jump to make.”

“Are you planning on saying anything about this?” Street asked Luca. “I mean, Molly might have some minor objections to me getting, well, married to someone else when we’ve only been together for a few months.” 

“We’ll explain it to Molly later,” Hicks said. “She understands that sometimes, the job has to come first. We have some tips that we might be really on to something there. Are you willing to answer the call? I’m not asking you two to risk your lives. I’m just asking you, well…” He looked back and forth between the two. “Maybe to risk your pride, depending on if one of you feels like you might be settling for less than you deserve.”

Street dragged a hand down his face and then looked over at Luca.

“Hey! Yeah you, hello! Are you going to say anything about this or are you just going to sit there looking like the cat who ate the canary?”

Luca’s face burst into a huge grin.

“Well, Street… I was just waiting for you to get down on one knee.”

Street groaned.

“Is it too late for me to go back to school and become… a welder, or something?”

***

“This is insane.”

“A little.”

“This is nuts.”

“Well, maybe.”

“Is this going to be legally binding?” 

Luca turned his head and looked back over at Street.

“Well, as legally binding as any other marriage, I guess,” he replied. 

The door opened and a well-dressed (or “sharp-dressed” Luca corrected in his mind, and began humming the ZZ Top song out loud, leading Street and the beleaguered Justice of the Peace to both turn and look at him) man stepped out.

“Come in, come in, Mr. Street and Mr. Luca.”

They stepped forward. 

Luca reached up and began to run his fingers awkwardly all over his corsage. He was breathing heavy now, too, now that he noticed it.

“Mr. Luca, are you quite all right?”

Luca felt like he was being called to the front of the class in school all over again, to be lectured about how the teacher could decipher “not one word” of the essay he had had to write about not playing wiffleball with the egg he was supposed to be parenting in Health class.

He remembered that he had actually worked really hard on that essay, and he had made some sort of declaration about how he was teaching his tiny egg son to enjoy the importance of sports. 

“I am, uh, fine. I was just thinking about all of this.” He ran his fingers over the sharp point of the corsage and let out a nervous sigh.

“We’ve been dating for three years and you’re thinking about it right now?” Street snapped, putting his hands on to his hips. “Why did you even ask to marry me if you’re going to get cold feet at the alter? If you’re going to be a runaway bride, then go!”

Luca sucked in a breath, trying desperately not to burst out laughing. He swallowed it and it appeared on his face as if he was overcome with tearful emotion.

“I do want to marry you, Jim. Now and forever.”

The Justice of the Peace looked back and forth between them and Luca was sure he detected a hint of exasperation.

“Do you have rings?”

The moments seemed to blur by, but they also seemed to linger, seemed to stand suspended.

“You may now kiss one another.”

Luca leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Street’s lips, and Luca would be lying if he said he didn’t like it at least a little bit.

***

“What do we do now, anyway?” Street asked, pacing in the war room of the station. 

“Honeymoon?” Alonso suggested, leaning forward with a grin. “How was it?”

“You know, I usually cry at weddings,” Hondo chimed in.

“Yeah, that’s why you weren’t invited,” Street shot back, rolling his eyes. “At least my mom didn’t show up drunk, which puts it a step above most of my life milestones. But… to get back to the point, what do we do now?” 

“Apply for the program,” Hicks said, “Ask a lot of questions. Try and find out what it’s all about. I know for sure the deputy mayor didn’t just decide that he’s interested in family values. This program is a cover for something… The question is what.”

“Let’s go down to the office and find out,” Luca said. “Also, who the hell put cans behind Black Betty?” 

A round of snickers greeted him.

“That’s not right, man. You’re all messed up. If she gets scratched up because of this…”

Hondo grinned up at him like a cat that ate the canary.

“So I’m guessing you aren’t going to be a big fan of the banner?”

Luca looked at him. 

“What banner?”

***

The city office was cramped, and clearly Luca and Street weren’t the only people who had heard about the Together, We Too program. There were couples of all types scattered around, sitting on chairs or pacing in the wings; one man had even taken waiting in the wings literally and had shown up dressed as a ladybug, with his wife dressed as a large yellow flower. 

The door cracked open, and a woman slowly walked out, smiling though her face was glazed with the kind of look given only by a government employee who has been working with a mayor for far too long.

“Dominique Luca and Jim Street, please.”

They stepped inside, and Luca looked at Street for a long moment before grabbing his hand and squeezing it hard. They needed it to look real, after all, didn’t they? That was the only reason. 

That was the sole and only reason – there wasn’t anything else going on, no little voice in his head that was saying maybe this agreement wasn’t going to be so bad after all, and that maybe there was a place in his life for this to… maybe not be over after the case. After all, they already lived together and generally got along great. And they were raising Duke together, and Duke seemed to have pretty good morals, other than the time he had eaten the remote to the blu-ray. 

Luca had to brush all of that away, though. The important thing was figuring out what the deputy mayor’s plan was and thwarting it. 

He couldn’t be worrying about whether Street would think about him while they were out rescuing a kidnapping victim or rushing into a hostage situation.

He thought about Street those times already, though, so what would be different?

Behind the counter was a man with a moustache which, if Luca was being honest, made him look like Snidely Whiplash more than a little bit.

“So, you’ve come to apply for the program, have you?”

“Uh… Yes, we have,” Street replied.

“Sign here.”

“Just sign right there? Both of us?”

“That’s it. Sign here and you will begin receiving checks on the 3rd.”

“For what?” Luca inquired.

“For being married.”

“Just… for being married?” Street inquired.

“Is there an echo in here? It’s an incentive. No one wants to get married anymore. They all think it’s too expensive.” 

“So how much are we going to get?” Street pressed.

“You’ll find out when you get the check. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

***

“Look at this, twenty-five hundred dollars. Can you believe it?” Street held the check in front of Luca’s face.

“Yeah, it’s too bad that it’s a scam. I could use the money,” Luca replied. “What’s the mayor doing with this, anyway?”

“It’s probably money laundering,” Street replied. “I figured it out. He’s funneling some kind of proceeds in through these checks. It’s a way to clean the money.”

“What’s his shady business, though? Is that son of his involved with it? I’d like to see him finally go away for good. Both of them, after all that stuff they tried with Chris. People get a little bit of power and it goes to their head… I hope I would never be like that,” Luca said, “But I also think no one would be stupid enough to put me in charge of the whole city.”

“Well, we’ll have to send this check it with the computer forensics department to find out what the game is,” Street said, putting a glove on before slipping the check back into an envelope. “We’ll have answers soon. In the meantime… what would you like to do… husband?” He grinned. Luca hadn’t seen him that happy in… well, maybe in all of the time that he had seen him.

“Cuddle up with Duke and watch some Great British Baking Show?” Luca suggested. “If you learn how to make some of that stuff, maybe we can stay married for good.” Street rolled his eyes.

“What about you?”

“Hey, my expertise is Guatemalan food. Not tarts and puff pastry and stuff like that.”

***

“Well, the results are in, and Hicks said they’re going to start making some arrests. The whole scam was city-wide, and you are not even going to believe what the money was getting funneled into.”

“What?” Luca leaned a little closer to Street, not noticing it at first, and then noticing it as if it was shouting in his head.

Street leaned forward and placed a kiss to Luca’s lips. Luca felt a little faint and touched Street’s shoulder. Maybe he should get up now, start playing one of his games. 

“Bootlegging movies.”

“Does anyone actually even do that anymore?” Luca asked. 

“Apparently the deputy mayor does.”

Luca reached up and scratched his head.

“When I was in high school, my friend used to get bootlegged movies with subtitles, and the subtitles were cut off. It made following the plot more than a little confusing. And anyway, why married people?”

Street shrugged.

“I mean, he’s right. People don’t seem to get married as much anymore. Maybe it’s all the pressure of trying to have the perfect wedding, when really, you just need to pick the perfect person to get married to.”

He shot a surreptitious look at Luca, and let the moment linger in the air.

Just then, Duke barreled in and jumped between them, leaning in to lick Luca’s face. Luca, a moment later, decided that he might just want to do about the same thing to Street.

Not right now, though, he decided. He had plenty of time.

Till death do they part, after all.


End file.
